Like a walk through the country side living on a small farm is full of daily surprises, sometimes wonderful and amazing, and other times puzzling and sad. I hope you will walk with me as I live out my dream of living on this tiny farm. You will come to know the dogs, cats, Shetland sheep and chickens that make up this farm and what goes into keeping them happy and healthy. Come and join the journey with me.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Getting Ready

I live in a Paranoid State. And I'm not the only one. Mention 'ice storm' even in the smallest of way, and suddenly people are freaking out all over the place, preparing for the worst, with dread in the deepest reaches of their souls. For any new readers of this blog, in January of 2007 we experienced a catastrophic ice storm that caused massive damage to trees and took out our electricity for 13 days. It also caused massive damage to our nerves.

We might get some ice, according to the weather people, but folks I've talked with are getting this hollow look about them, when this ice word comes up for discussion. I'm really hoping that we won't get much, if any. We are on the edge of the affected (supposedly) counties, so we might be okay. I imagine the roads will be a mess regardless, so I do dread that. What is going to happen, if the weather people are right, is the current 60 degrees we are having, will drop down in the twenties, anytime between 6 p.m. tonight and 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. At the same time moisture will move into the area, and depending on how the cold front and moisture combine, we will get ice, sleet or snow. Possibly all three. Accumulations look light at this point, but there is no way to really tell.

I spent part of the afternoon once I got home from church getting things prepared. I carried about three days worth of wood into the house...so I got a little carried away..but... I also have the gate to the rams pen on a quick release setup, so I can toodle out there when the rain starts and let Jeff and Cal into the pen where their shed is. Jeff is banished to the outermost areas at this time of the year because of the ewes, but I won't leave them out without shelter during a potential ice storm. I also fixed the panel gates where they are up off the ground about an inch on one end (tie or wire to fence), which makes it easier to break them loose. I'll bring in the gate locks tonight. I filled up all the water troughs for the sheep and if it starts getting bad, I'll fill up extra water containers in the house. The whole time I was scurrying about, local farmers on tractors or in trucks, were driving by with loads of hay for their cows. One fellow I talked to at church has it rigged up where he can feed his cows up to a week in the advent of catastrophic weather, just by opening gates. I noticed that the guy who has the heifers adjoining my place loaded them all up over the weekend to take home. So it might not get bad, but nobody wants to be caught out and unprepared this time.

I've also been trying to get Angry Noel the Christmas Turkey to eat some food. I'll blog about that experience sometime but right now I'm not too optimistic at this point that it will survive. One word of advice---when you are driving about your business don't look in the ditches! Eyes to the front. It's easier that way.

I started this post on Sunday, and here it is Thursday. There were some pictures that I wanted to upload with it, but since time is flying by, I'll just post it picture-less. It's been a heck-ish week, weather wise, and I'm getting rather worn out. We did not get any major ice accumulation, but the roads have been mighty slick at times. We've had a steady influx of cold air and misty/drizzly stuff almost every morning. The nights have been frigid and it takes allot of extra time to make sure all the old critters are prepared to survive the nights. Because of the nasty roads I've been leaving about a half hour earlier, so I leave in the dark and get home in the dark. Just hoping all the critters are okay, because it sure is hard to tell in the dark! Today is suppose to warm up to the 40s and hopefully that will melt some of this junk off. If you can walk on the grass it's okay, but all the paths and hard surfaces have packed sleet/snow, with a greasy glaze. I'm ready for the weekend. I'm so not ready for Christmas either. It's just crazy. No cards sent out, no baking done, still shopping for a few last minute presents. This weekend, I'll be doing allot of baking, it looks like. So far Angry Noel survives. One tough turkey.

3 comments:

I know what you mean about the weather!! We have spent the better part of everyday this week outside getting everyone settled!! Plus 3 bottle babies in the house! Next week isnt looking much better....

It is almost scary here ... our temperatures are way too high for this time of year and everyone is afraid when winter finally arrives it's going to be bad. On the brighter side, we have gotten a good amount of rain lately and it has been more then welcome after not having any in oh so long.

My Christmas shopping is done, thank goodness, and baking will be done over the next couple of days.